COMPANY NEWS

COMPANY NEWS; Sale Is Set For Boston Newspaper

Published: February 5, 1994

BOSTON, Feb. 4—
Rupert Murdoch said today that he would sell The Boston Herald to its publisher of the last 10 years, Patrick J. Purcell.

The sale will clear the way for Mr. Murdoch to buy back the local Fox television station, WFXT, Channel 25. He was forced to sell the station in 1989 by the Federal Communications Commission, which prohibits companies from owning two media outlets in the same market.

In New York, where Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation owns the Fox television station, WNYW, Channel 5, he was able to repurchase The New York Post last year by getting a waiver to the Federal rule when no other suitable owner could be found for The Post. Leaving Other Jobs

Mr. Purcell is also the publisher of The New York Post and the president and chief executive of News America Publishing Inc., part of Mr. Murdoch's media empire. He will resign those posts on Feb. 14 when he takes over as owner of The Herald.

"One thing we do not have any more are the deep pockets and the safety net of Rupert Murdoch's corporation," he said at a news conference today at the Herald building. "We are going to have to make it on our own."

The terms of the sale were not disclosed, and Mr. Purcell would not describe the financial health of The Herald except to say, "We're in the black."

Mr. Murdoch said in a statement that "it will be good for Boston to have the commitment of a local publisher." The Herald's rival, The Boston Globe, was bought by The New York Times Company in October.

The competition between The Herald and The Globe has been fierce in recent years. The Herald's circulation, as of September, was 321,715 on weekdays and 213,985 on Sundays, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations; The Globe's circulation was 507,647 on weekdays and 814,036 on Sundays.

"We know that Boston needs and can support two daily newspapers," Mr. Purcell said at the news conference where he shared the stage with his wife, his children and his parents.

The Herald is known for aggressive local reporting on politics and crime. After Thomas M. Menino, the Mayor of Boston, praised the sale at today's news conference, he said jokingly to Mr. Purcell, "Some of your reporters I'll talk to you about later on." Different Points of View

The Globe includes more national and international news and places a greater emphasis on writing style than does The Herald. The Herald's gossip columnists, Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, like to refer to their rival in print as "the Boring Broadsheet."

One of the more famous moments of the rivalry occurred in 1992, when The Herald was running one of Mr. Murdoch's trademark Wingo contests to raise circulation. The Herald sent a photographer to stake out the house of The Globe's editor, Matthew V. Storin. As Mr. Storin left his house, the photographer stuck a "Wingo" sign into his arms and snapped his picture. Thus The Globe's editor appeared in The Herald promoting its contest.

A leading newspaper analyst said it would be difficult for The Herald to fight The Globe without Mr. Murdoch's financial help. "The history of second newspapers in this country is kind of a grim one, and usually depends on someone with deep pockets," said John Morton, an analyst at Lynch, Jones & Ryan, a brokerage firm in Washington.

"I understand that since the recession, it hasn't been making any money," he said. "I don't want to be shooting at lifeboats. I hope Mr. Purcell has some strategy to keep it going."

Mr. Purcell, a native of Queens whose first newspaper job was filling glue pots in the advertising department of The Daily News in New York, said in an interview that he would refurbish the paper's press units, find more efficient ways of producing pages, and put new features in the Sunday paper.

"I have been the leader of this newspaper for the last 10 years," he said at the news conference. "I have had almost complete autonomy."